Company: Diamond Select
Release: 2010/2012
Price: See below
Scale: 7”
The Background
Diamond Select has been producing action figures based on
the Universal Monsters for a number of years now, with largely positive
results. Their detailed sculpting is impressive, their paint jobs high-quality
and their prices reasonable.
Having recently (finally!) watched the classic Creature from the Black Lagoon earlier
this year, I liked the idea of getting my hands on their version of the
Creature (aka Gillman). One of the few
classic Universal Monsters not based
on a pre-existing folk tale or novel, the Creature burst onto cinema screens in
1954, spawning two sequels, as well as an appearance on The Munsters and in The
Monster Squad. Though he’s not as ubiquitous as Dracula or the Wolfman,
he’s undeniably left an impact on pop culture, even totally not turning up in Lego form a couple of years ago.
Sculpt and
Articulation
I had my first experience with Diamond Select earlier this
year, when I picked up their Silver Surfer. He was a pretty cool toy, though he
had a couple of minor articulation issues. So I was reasonably confident when I
ordered this guy. The box looked great, and I had looked at a few positive reviews
some months earlier…but long enough ago that I’d forgotten a few key details.
Namely, articulation. “Action figure” is something of a
misnomer here. The entire Universal Monsters range has very minimal
articulation. In the Creature’s case, only his shoulders, elbows, wrists and
ankles are articulated, and they’re all pretty restricted.
Here’s what he’s got:
*shoulders (balljoint?)
*elbows (hinged)
*wrists (cut)
*ankles (cut)
The shoulders can only really move in a hinged fashion – due
to the sculpt of the torso, they can’t really swivel out to the side or
anything. In the case of the wrists, they’re quite tight, initially, but they've loosened up now. As for the ankles,
this is fairly redundant without accompanying leg and hip articulation, but it
can be handy for getting him to stand on the base.
The sculpt gives a good overall impression of the creature,
though the face is not quite as inhuman as the original mask – I’ve thought
about it for a while, and I think it’s due to the difference in the eyes and
giving him a closed mouth. While it now looks more like a “real” creature, these
choices have had the (likely unintentional) effect of making him look rather
ticked off and irritable – as opposed to being a terrifying prehistoric beast,
fighting to defend his home against invaders.
He’s been standing in a queue for too long and is pretty darn annoyed
about it!
Aside from this, I can’t pretend I’m an expert on screen
accuracy, but it looks more or less right to me. One interesting feature which
I saw pointed out in another review is that his shins are untextured – this is
accurate to the film’s costume, but something that's apprently often overlooked.
The main problem is that he's probably a little too tall. Gillman is probably bigger than a normal human -- but not as big as a Predator. He's almost big enough to class him in 8" scale, rather than 7". However, though I'd read this online, I didn't really notice it until I lined him up next to the other guys in the photo above.
Just as a side note, going off reviews at ItsAllTrue.net and
MWCToys.com, this figure seems to have first been released in 2010, but this
particular version is indicated on the box (and stamped on his foot) as ©2012.
However, it doesn’t look to have been changed since this original release –
maybe the paint has been altered slightly? I can’t spot any differences myself.
Accessories
The creature comes with two accessories – a sandy, rocky
diorama base and Kay Lawrence, who was the object of Gillman’s affection in the
movie (played by Julie Adams).
The base is a little plain, but the upside is that it’s
generic enough that you could use it for almost everything. There are rocks,
sure, but it doesn’t look scale-specific. This could be fine for anything from
Lego through to 7-8” figures.
Actually, calling Kay Lawrence an accessory is doing her
something of a disservice. She’s a figure in her own right really, with plenty
of attention to detail on the sculpting. She’s not really articulated, which is
a shame – but her head is a separate piece, so you can turn it on the neck. She
doesn’t sit quite flat on the base, but you don’t really notice most of the
time.
I don’t think the likeness to Julie Adams is all that great, though. I agree with MWC's review that the set looks more or less based on this photo (far left) -- the hair isn't quite right and neither is the face. I suspect the likeness rights may have been tricky to get hold of – this was apparently the case with Diamond Select’s Dracula figure, which is a great vampire, but definitely not Bela Lugosi. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad sculpt. It looks like a very attractive
young woman, in somewhat of a pin-up style.
Gillman wasn’t really an accessorised guy, so getting
anything at all is a nice bonus. There’s no cause for complaint with what’s
included, but it might have been nice to get the fossilised Gillman hand, which
is found at the beginning of the film and sets off the whole chain of events
that follow.
Paint
The Creature seems to be cast in black, with everything else
painted over the top. For the most paint, the paint job is great, with the
dominant colour being a metallic green. The finny attachments dotted around his
body are a little sloppy, but nothing that distracts from the figure as a
whole. However, the paint on his neck is one flat colour, and it seems to be a
little thick. I think a subtle dark green wash here would have made it gel
better with the rest of the body. Similarly, the pink of his lips contrasts
just a little too strongly with his green flesh.
Aside from these minor quibbles, the only real issue were small
patches of unpainted skin on the right and left shoulders. It looks like some
of the paint may have scraped off, but given that it’s an area completely
concealed when the arm is hanging by his side, it’s not a major issue.
The paint job on Kay Lawrence is very impressive, too.
Apparently cast in skin-coloured plastic, her swimsuit, hair and face have all
been picked out incredibly well, with no trace of slop. In a particularly
impressive touch, even her fingernails and toenails have been painted with "nail polish".
Availability and
pricing
This guy isn’t too hard to track down on eBay and he’s not
particularly expensive either. I paid around $AUD25 for him – but I also paid
close to that again for him in postage! Such is the case when you ship things
from the US to Australia though, and I’m learning to just suck it up.
I understand that most of the Universal Monsters figures
have been released in two different versions – typically a Diamond Select
version, and a Toys R Us version. The Toys R Us version will have fewer
accessories, but it will generally have a different paint job, and/or a
slightly different head sculpt.
In Gillman’s case, he has a non-metallic paint job (and no
pink lips) and a different, more detailed base. However, going from my eBay
searches, the reviewed version looks to be the easiest to track down.
Overall
This would have been an amazing toy in 2002-2004, alongside
the relatively unarticulated toys NECA and McFarlane were offering at the time,
but it was a little out of date by 2010 – and more so by 2012, I tend to think.
Strange as it may sound, I don’t think this range of Universal Monsters has
really been designed for toy collectors as such – rather, I think it’s been
designed for movie fans. There can be a lot of overlap, granted, but this
figure seems more geared towards being a movie memorabilia display piece,
rather than a “proper” toy.
So I’m pleased, but not quite thrilled with this figure. Personally,
I will take a good sculpt over articulation, but I was still a little
disappointed that the arms were as restricted as they were. Additionally, the
combined cost of figure and shipping made this purchase close to $AUD50, which
isn’t great value for money – I think if I’d paid between $25-$35 total I would
have been more satisfied.
If you’re considering the purchase, I might suggest that you
wait for the new Diamond Select version later this year. He looks to be better articulated
and has a cooler base – though doesn’t look to include Kay Lawrence. Had I
known about it, I might have waited, but I don’t think I’ll double-dip – it’s just too soon.
Company: Funko
Skin texturing is similar, with both POP and Mystery Mini resembling an avocado. As a food, avocados can mostly go in the bin, but the use of the similar skin texture is a nice touch that adds some essential but not aesthetic-ruining detail. 
